Resident Evil: Similtude
by Excel83
Summary: Very much inspired by Leon & Claire's story, this is set during the same period of time but tells the story of two other civilians, one a long time resident of Raccoon, the other not. This is the first fic I have ever written and wrote it 2 years ago, lon
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Connor felt the wind sweep past him, Icy and painful as it struck his face at high speed. Taking his bike to Raccoon wasn't the ideal choice, but a friend of his had borrowed his car to take his family away for the weekend and Connor had also loaned his only helmet to his friend Jeff, who'd wanted to take his new girlfriend riding on his bike. So now Connor found himself risking life and limb, doing 65 on a bike without his helmet. Ordinarily he would never had risked it, but Stacey's message had been so worrying, so unusual and panicked that he'd jumped straight onto his bike and headed to Raccoon.

He'd come home from a long day at work when he'd found her message on his machine. He had dealt with his share of stress already that day, chasing down petty criminals wasn't the ideal way to spend a hot afternoon, and even though he was in pretty good shape, the late summer heat had taken its toll on him. As much as he hated the paperwork that came with being an officer, there were days when he wished for it. Still in his uniform, he was speeding down an apparently deserted road. He'd passed only one other rider on his way; he was speeding and only caught a glimpse of the rider, a woman wearing pink. No leathers, looked like he wasn't the only one riding dangerously that night, at least she would have a chance of surviving a head injury if she suffered a crash. He cursed himself again for not having a helmet; he was quite a cautious person and couldn't shake the thought of crashing without protection from his mind.

Finally Connor saw the road sign he'd been waiting for:

RACCOON CITY NEXT EXIT

He was almost there. He thought again about the message he had found waiting from him when he'd arrived home. Stacey's voice had sounded terrified and desperate; she had pleaded for him to come to Raccoon. The first thing he did was try to call her back, however he got only busy signals from the land lines, he tried her on her cell phone but it just kept ringing. Something bad was happening to Stacy, he didn't know what but he could feel that she was in some kind of danger. Her panicked tone had told him that.

Amy was lying in the dark, hiding. She was hoping they couldn't find their way into the house. In all the panic of what was happening in the city, she'd found herself trapped inside some strangers' house. She'd been there for at least a day now, she wasn't exactly sure though, it could have been almost two days. The power had been cut off, at least to this block, and there hadn't been a single battery powered clock in the house. After she'd finally found the courage to sleep she'd lost track of the time. When she'd woken, the sounds that she had been hearing from the central business district not too far away had all but disappeared. Before she had slept she'd been hearing gunfire, screaming, explosions and commotion. But now all she heard was the occasional sound that she could neither identify nor place.

She decided that perhaps now was the time to go outside. She knew they would be out there, but with any luck the lack of sound meant that they were either mostly dead or that they were spread out into other parts of town. At least she could be sure that the quiet meant that the dangers posed by the police attacks were over. In the panic of trying to find safety she'd run directly into the line of fire of five police officers and was very lucky she hadn't gotten shot. One of the officers had realised that she was just a frightened girl looking for cover and ordered his fellow officers to hold their fire while he got her out of harms way. She hadn't stayed with the officers long as she could see they were being over powered, so she'd made a run for it, that's was when she'd found herself in the darkened house she was now struggling to leave.

She forced herself to the front door, and looked through the spy hole. She couldn't see any movement; however she could see the result of the fire fights that had taken place. The street was a mess, broken glass and wreckage dominated the area. It was obvious the police had lost the battle, but she tried not to think about it. She focused on the fact that there was no movement outside besides the few fires that burned. She cautiously opened the door and leaned her head outside, trying to get a fuller view of the area that she couldn't get through the spy hole. Everything was still, and she decided that although it certainly wasn't safe, she couldn't stay where she was forever and needed to find someone who may be able to help her.

_But you aren't going to get anywhere just staring outside_

She walked into the street, neglecting to close the door behind her, she didn't really think it was necessary and besides, she needed somewhere safe to run to should anything bad suddenly happen. The road ahead was eerily desolate. Nothing, not even papers blowing. It seemed that even the wind had died along with all of those people. As she turned onto Gordon Street she saw them; dozens of them, bodies, lying in the street. They were cops mostly. Uniformed officers were lying on the hoods of cars and on the pavement, there was the odd civilian, although some of them seemed like they could have been detectives in civilian clothes. Deep sadness and a rush of guilt swept over Amy.

_How could this have happened, these were people with lives and now look at them…_

She briefly considered returning back to the house, just so that she wouldn't have to look at the carnage anymore, it wasn't that death bothered her that much, it was more the thought that these people were once the civilians of the town where she had lived since she was five. Now these people who had families, and friends were dead, as if suddenly someone had decided that their existence wasn't important enough and decided to end it. These people didn't deserve this.

Amy walked a couple more blocks into town until she came to the elementary school. Maybe there were survivors in there, it was a community-gathering place for town meetings and it did seem quite likely; at least until she noticed that the doors had been chained up. They must have been locked when this whole incident started. Amy's hope faded again and she decided to continue on. The cold loneliness of the night was giving her a chill, but she knew that if she didn't find someone alive soon that she wouldn't be able to carry on. The hopelessness of a deserted city filled with death didn't leave her with a sense of well-being, and she knew that the longer she stayed out in the open, the more likely they were to appear. Just as she pushed that thought from her mind, she heard it.

_-CRASH-_

She turned, flung her body 180 degrees to see what had caused the sound.

_Maybe it's a surv - maybe it's one of them!_

Then she saw the cause of the noise, her horror suddenly increased by a factor of ten and she knew that she had to get away. They had found her. And they were coming for her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Connor immediately felt a sense of dread. Raccoon wasn't the largest city on the map sure, but it wasn't some quiet little mountain town anymore either. The Umbrella pharmaceutical corporation had done a lot for this little town. Living not far from Raccoon he often read news about the city in his local newspaper. The town he lived in was pretty uneventful and so most of the interesting news came from Raccoon. About twenty years ago Umbrella had moved into Raccoon city and in that time their company had expanded dramatically, expanding the city along with it. They were often involved in money raising events and the business that they brought to the city meant that Raccoon's economy was booming. However since this was no longer a small mountain community, he expected there to be a little more activity on the streets. Sure it was 10:00pm and the general populous would be at home right about now, but there would still be some people about, at least the odd person walking around. But there was nothing, there weren't even many lights on in the buildings. He was driving through the centre of town, he had expected there to be some people out for the night but there wasn't.

_Maybe everyone is at some sort of event._

He didn't know that much about what Raccoon city was like after dark. He'd only ever visited twice before, and both times were during the day; however he'd gotten enough of a feel for the town to know that it would have some kind of nightlife. As he rode further into town he became more and more confused, why were there no lights coming from any of the buildings? Why were even the bars deserted? Something didn't add up. He stopped just before he reached the centre of town. He imagined that anyone watching could read the expression of confusion on his face like a book.

_Where is everyone? What happened here? Maybe this is why Stacy wanted me to come here; there must be something bad happening…some kind of citywide emergency, but what?_

The thoughts worked their way through his head for a while as he continued on foot. He was still wearing his gun belt, as he hadn't even bothered to change before hopping on his bike after hearing Stacy's message. He decided things were a little too sinister and un-holstered his weapon. He walked with it in one hand, not looking like he was nervous, though he felt it. Turning a corner he noticed that the street was a mess. Not just a mess with litter but a true god awful disturbing mess. He couldn't quite tell what had happened here, but the police car with its door open and side window smashed didn't give him any good feelings.

_Must have come under fire, perhaps a gang riot or something._

He decided to check the car to see if he could figure out what had happened. Making his way down the street he began to notice more evidence of the destruction. The street was littered with glass and torn pieces of clothing, trashcans were knocked over there were what looked like shotgun blasts in the walls of some of the buildings. Whatever had happened here it was bad. As he got closer to the car he noticed that there were legs sticking out from underneath the door. He ran up to the car to find a dead cop lying face down in the driver's seat with his legs hanging out of the open door. Instinctively he checked for a pulse. The cop's skin feeling cold as he realised that he was dead, but there was something else, his skin felt clammy. He didn't think much of it however as his mind was racing with too many other questions. Who had done this, where were the other cops. He tried the radio in the car. As best he could tell it was working but there was no answer. Either it was broken or there was no one at the station monitoring it.

_This must be big if there's no one monitoring the police band._

There was a weapon on the back seat, a Beretta. He picked it up deciding it was better than the piece of shit that he had. Being from a small town his department wasn't the most well funded, and standard issue sidearm was a Browning HP. It was effective but he felt better with the Beretta. And if he did run into the gang of thugs that did all this, having two weapons was always better than one. He searched the corpse of the cop and found a single clip for the Beretta. He pocketed it and left the car where it was. It was time to find out what had happened in this town. By now he was sure that there had been some kind of gang riot and that Stacy had called him in fear for her life.

_If those bastards have hurt her there will be hell to pay!_

He and Stacy had grown up together, at least until they were eight years old. Stacy had moved to Racoon with her parents then, and since they had been such good friends they had always kept in touch. Stacy's parents had come back to visit many times and Conner was always pleased to see her. When they became teenagers, Stacy had come to visit on her own many times, and now that they were adults they saw each other every couple of months. They had even dabbed in a brief romantic relationship during their hormone ridden teenage years, but soon realised that they made better friends than lovers, especially with the distance between them. However they were still very close and Conner felt a loyalty to her that he'd never felt with anyone else. Whenever she needed anything, he would be willing to be there for her. He continued down the street until he came to the end. Dead end. He was about to turn back until he noticed a dark alley that led through to the other side. It must lead onto one of the main roads in town he thought. It seemed like the best choice so he moved forward. The streets were still deadly silent, and he figured that if the gang had moved onto another part of town, then why were people still hiding. Surely the stillness would have lead them out of their houses to assess the damage. Something still didn't add up and his gang theory was starting to look a little less plausible. Then when he emerged from the dark alley he realised that his theory was completely off the mark—

_--JESUS!—_

It was a war zone. It couldn't have been a gang of thugs; it would have had to have been an army. The place was devastated. There were smashed cars, police vehicles set up into barricades, broken glass and rubble all over the street. And the bodies. There were bodies everywhere, cops, civilians, women. No gang could have instituted such brutality. Many of the bodies had horrific injuries. Very few if any of them seemed to have gunshot wounds, most looked as though they had been knifed or beaten to death. Many of them looked to have huge wounds with flesh missing from them.

Connor felt his stomach churn as the realisation of it all sank in. He checked several of the bodies; none of them were alive. Suddenly he felt a great pity for the poor souls here. It was then that he first began to feel that he was in real danger. After all, if the people who did this were still here, then he could be joining these poor victims. At that thought he sprang back up onto his feet, holding his newly acquired Beretta in both hands close to his chest. He checked it again to make sure it was fully loaded, not wanted to find himself pinned down and having to reload. He moved further down the street, cautiously, making sure to check every alley and turn in the road before he moved past them; the last thing he wanted were any surprises.

His chest felt tight and tense as he turned the corner. Still strafing slowly he tried desperately to clear his mind of all the questions that were flooding his thoughts. If something did suddenly happen he didn't want to be caught off guard dwelling on questions that he didn't have the answers to, he wanted to be alert. Then a scream, followed by moaning. The scream had obviously been a woman, but the moans seemed to be men.

_Maybe the people who did this._

Connor broke into a sprint, but something caught him out of the corner of his eye before he could get a hundred feet away. The bodies, they were moving.

_Alive!_

It seemed implausible, but perhaps some of them had survived. Then he realised that they couldn't have. One of the bodies stood up and revealed that much of its face was missing, not only that but it had a huge hole in its chest. It had taken at least two shotgun blasts, but was walking is if it no longer felt the pain. The shot in the chest should have killed him, but he was still moving forward. Connor then noticed that many of the other survivors were sporting other obviously fatal injuries, yet they were still alive too. He began to suspect that each of them had died, but were now moving. It didn't take him too long to put two and two together—

_-Zombies! No that's not possible._

He dismissed the theory almost immediately as preposterous and ludicrous. But he couldn't deny the facts that stood in front of him, walking toward him with a glazed look their eyes. His first instinct was to shoot, but then his training took over.

"Hold it right there, I'm a police officer. Lay down on the ground with your hands behind your head or I will open fire!"

The people didn't listen to him, they kept moving toward him. "This is your last chance, stop where you are or I will be forced to shoot!"

Still no response. He decided to open fire on the largest man who was the closest to him. One shot straight into the mans shoulder, but he barely moved. The force of the impact had an effect on him, but the man seemed to feel no pain. Connor himself had once been shot with a 9mm bullet, and so knew from personal experience that if the blow didn't knock you down, then the pain of it would. However the man barely flinched. He shot again, this time aiming perfectly at the mans heart. The shot tore through his chest but still, no effect on him.

_They ARE zombies!_

As much as he couldn't believe it, it was true. These people were dead but were still moving. Coming for him, just like in the movies. It was then in a flash of thought that he realised what had been going on in Raccoon, and what had caused Stacy to make that phone call to him.

_Stacy, I hope she's all right!_

He decided to make a run for it. He ran in the direction of the scream that he'd heard earlier. It had only been a minute or so, but the unreality of the situation seemed to have slowed down time for him. Now however time was picking up, seeming like every second meant the difference between life and death. He hadn't realised before, but the quiet awe that he felt when he entered town had become a panicked terror.

Amy saw them coming for her, and suddenly everything seemed as panicked as it did before she had went into hiding. She still couldn't believe what had happened. When she first realised that they were zombies attacking the police she had scolded herself for thinking something so ridiculous, but as time went on she had begun to realise that she was right. She was being chased by zombies now, and although they didn't move any faster than a slow shuffle, she couldn't control her running. She ran down the street and into a café. She believed she was out of danger and stopped to catch her breath.

A noise from behind the counter caught Amy's attention. She held her breath to listen to the noise to try and work out what it was. In a moment she heard the noise again, a kind of shuffling sound from behind the counter. She looked over the counter to see that there were two zombies sitting up. They'd realised that she'd come in and had smelled the fresh meat. She backed away slowly, and was about to go back outside until she realised that the zombies outside were closing in on the café. Amy had to think quickly, there had to be a way out.

_The back entrance!_

There had to be a back entrance, she knew that it was necessary for the staff to take out the garbage, but getting there would be the problem. The zombies behind the counter were moving toward her. Without thinking she leapt over the counter kicking one of the zombies in the back knocking it down. She landed and then kicked the other one as it turned back around to get to her. She hopped over the two downed creatures, pushing against the counter and a shelf to boost herself over them. One of them reached for her but its poor coordination caused it to only brush past her leg. Darting for the door she pushed through it and found herself in a small kitchen area. There was a lingering smell of rotting meat coming from somewhere, but she didn't stay to find out where it was coming from. She headed for the door at the other end of the kitchen, hoping that there weren't anymore of the walking corpses in the alley behind the café.

She found herself in a damp alley. She slammed the door behind her and stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Her heart was racing and the adrenaline in her system kept her jittery for a few seconds while she struggled to control her breathing. As she began to regain her composure she glanced around her, trying to figure out what her next move should be. She began to move to end of the alleyway, and back onto the main street. She edged out and saw that she was no safer here than she was before, as she moved further into the street she watched as a group of four flesh eaters turned and started to shuffle their way towards her. She saw that one of them was only as old as she was, 18 or maybe 19; a male wearing a T-shirt and jeans. He was shuffling along with the other three, and would have looked normal if it weren't for the glazed over look in his eyes and the huge gaping wound of missing flesh in where his bicep should have been.

Amy felt pity for him, although she also thought that at least he didn't now have to witness all this horror; assuming that these creatures had no memories of their previous lives and were now mindless killers like they were in the movies. She had seen some bad zombie films in which the cannibals had still kept their minds, but they were nothing compared to the true zombie classics.

_But why are you thinking about that right now, you've got to get yourself out of here, to some kind of safety. There must be some survivors somewhere._

She was still locked into her train of thought when she was surprised from behind by something grabbing her. She screamed and flung herself around to see what it was. She'd been so preoccupied with looking at the group of four zombies that she hadn't noticed the one approaching behind her. It was holding on to her clothing, trying desperately to take a bite out of her. She struggled to get away from it. Her heart was pumping faster and faster as she forced the zombie backwards. It stumbled to the floor but still had a good grip on her blouse, it pulled her down with it and she found herself lying on top of the creature as it continued in its attempts to eat her. She was so close that she could smell the rotting of its flesh. She choked on her own bile as she tried feverishly to stop from vomiting. She managed to pull herself up and stumbled backwards falling back to the ground. The zombie sat up and she turned quickly and struggled to her feet, scrambling to get herself into a run so she could escape. She had run only a few yards when she ran into another of the creatures as she turned a corner. She and the thing fell to the ground and she thought that she was about to die as her hope finally began to fade.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Connor was knocked flat by the force of the woman. She had run right into him, probably running from something. He then saw what she had been running from, a zombie that was moving towards them. At first the woman was struggling against him, but after a few seconds she seemed to just give up. He lifted her off him—

"Get up! We need to get up now"

The woman looked at him, she looked scared, but at the same time confused. She was seemingly surprised to see him and looked like she had as many thoughts running through her head as he did.

"Come on, we have to go!"

It took her a few seconds, but she finally heeded his words and scrambled to her feet.

"This way…", he said, pointing in the opposite direction of the one he'd just came from. He grabbed the girl by the wrist and pulled her along with him. She didn't put up any sort of a fight; he assumed that, like him, she was just glad to have found someone else alive.

Together they ran down the street and when Connor noticed an open door in a corner store he led the girl into it. He wasn't positive that it was safe but decided that it was their best option as they couldn't keep running around the streets with all of those zombies out there. Connor went inside first, gesturing to the girl that she should wait outside while he checked it out. He held the Beretta pointing toward the ground but in a fashion that he'd be ready to aim it in a split second. He leaned his head through the door and quickly scouted the area inside. There were several aisles in the store and the main counter with the cash register and a small magazine rack. Unless there was a zombie hiding quietly behind the counter the place seemed secure.

Connor gestured back to the young girl to follow him into the store. He held open the door for her and once he was inside he closed it firmly and bolted it. He turned to see the girl walking slowly toward the cash register.

"Wait, there may be something behind there!"

He tucked the Beretta into his belt and moved in front of her. Slowly and cautiously he leaned over the counter.

"Clear"

"Do you have to keep acting like that?" She looked at him with scrutiny.

"Acting like what?" He looked at her properly for the first time, realising only after he had spoken just how young she was. She could only be 19 or 20. He was only 25 himself, but had his years of police training to fall back on. She was probably fresh out of high school. It was this sudden realisation of her age that stopped him from speaking to her like she was some panicky citizen, he realised that being so young, this situation was probably taking an even bigger toll her than it would on the average civilian.

_And she's probably been through this since the beginning; it's bound to adversely affect anyone. Cut her some slack_

"Acting like some army commando or something. You're just a cop."

She still had that scrutinising tone in her voice, but Connor decided to take his own advice and give her a wide berth.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to. Its just I don't really know what to do. This isn't the average situation." He thought that maybe admitting that he didn't know what he was doing would help to establish a connection between them. He knew he was going to have to build some trust between them if they were going to survive this mess, and in his experience, admitting ones flaws tended to create a feeling of trust.

"Do you have any idea what's going on? How long has the city been like this?" He didn't want to pressure her for answers but the desire to know what was going on was strong and the more he knew about the situation, the better equipped he would be to handle it.

"I'm not sure, a couple of days I think, maybe three" She looked at him intently, obviously finding a survivor was a huge relief for her, it would have to be if things had been bad for three days.

"What's your name?"

"Amy." She sounded like she was starting to open up to him. She had obviously been through a terrible ordeal, but was holding up remarkably well considering.

"My name's Connor. I'm not a Raccoon police officer; I arrived in town only twenty minutes ago. Do you know anything about what happened here?"

Amy looked up at Connor. He was a sturdy looking man, not exactly a veteran cop, but still several years older then she was. She sensed that he was telling the truth.

_Why would he lie? He probably came into town for a visit. But then why is he in uniform?_

"It started like I said, a few days ago. I can't be exactly sure because I've lost track of time." She felt flustered. She was still very unsure of her situation, she didn't want to feel like she was breaking down, and luckily, finding Connor had made her feel a whole lot better.

"I don't know how it started exactly, it just seemed to get so out of control so quickly. I think it started with a huge commotion right in the centre of town. I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what the commotion was, but I heard rumours that a lot of the police were called in to try and contain it." Amy tried hard to sound composed, but the fear was still evident in her voice and she didn't want to sound like a panicky little girl.

"I think the commotion just sort of spread out after that, and the police couldn't contain it. I think it's kinda obvious why."

She regretted not being able to give him more information than that. She wanted to be able to help, even though she was still being cautious.

"So you don't actually know what caused this?"

She looked back at him with a look as if to let him know that she had told him everything she knew. He seemed taken aback by her quick attitude adjustment, but she still felt it was a stupid question. After all, how was she supposed to know what had caused the people of Raccoon to become zombies. It was ridiculous enough to think that this situation was really happening, let alone to try and figure out how it started.

"Sorry", she heard Connor say. She looked at him again, trying to not to crack under the strain of the situation. Connor turned away from her and started searching round the store, probably for anything they could use.

_Maybe he's just hungry?_

The thought almost made her giggle, but she quickly realised that this wasn't the time. And after everything she'd seen, the thought of eating made her very nauseas. The few times she had eaten in the last few days she'd be barely able to swallow, and had only finished a few mouthfuls before giving up.

She stood and watched as Connor inspected several shelves. He didn't actually look very hopeful, which was probably a good thing because all he was coming up with were general groceries that wouldn't be of any use to them; not unless they were going to spread dishwasher liquid on the ground to make the walking dead slip up.

"Anything good?" she hopelessly asked him while turning her head towards the door, just in case.

"No. Didn't expect to find anything really. But I think we could probably use some of the food." Connors reply made Amy gag again. She knew she was hungry, but the thought of eating just sent convulsions up her throat.

"Yeah, I guess." She stared at him a moment, and then asked the question, "So how come you're here? In Racoon I mean".

The look she got in response spoke chapters about the worry that was obviously going through his head. She sensed that he had a very good reason for being here, though she wasn't sure what it could be, and why it could be so important that he hadn't skipped right back out of town as soon as he'd seen what was going on.

"Oh, just visiting an old friend." She immediately got the impression that it wasn't the whole story, and the question about why he was still in his uniform occurred to her again. She thought it was best to leave it though; right now they needed to focus on what was going on around them, not dally in semantics.

_Maybe there is something behind the counter we can use_

Connor hadn't checked there yet, and it was certainly a more inviting option than just standing there watching him. She was about to move towards the counter when a smell hit her, almost like a smack in the face. A musty, rank odour, an odour she'd gotten used to in the past few days, but that was extremely pungent in the relatively clean atmosphere of the store.

The look on Amy's face told Connor all he needed to know. Before long he knew exactly what was making her so afraid; the smell of death, coming from the back storeroom. Connor knew what it meant; the smell hadn't been there when they'd first entered the store, which meant that whatever was causing it was moving.

_Which gives me a pretty good idea what's causing it._

"Stay where you are." He gestured to Amy to stay put, and thankfully she seemed to listen. Connor paced slowly towards the opening which lead to the storeroom. He knew what he was about to face, but knowing what was behind the corner didn't make it any less nerve racking. The circumstances he was dealing with still hadn't sunken in, and he was still finding himself unable to accept the reality of what was going on.

He glanced back at Amy, trying to give her a reassuring look, though he knew that his expression was probably not making her feel any better. He was still looking in her direction when he heard a noise from the storeroom.

--_Huuuuuuuuiiiissssssss_--

It sounded like a huge snake, except there was a hint of voice in there too. It was much louder than anything the zombies outside had made or he could imagine them being able to make. Connor stopped where he stood, took a deep breath and took another look at Amy before he moved into the storeroom. He had his Beretta held high, his index finger wrapped around the trigger, squeezing it gently. He turned the corner into the dimly lit room and saw nothing. The rear window was open, but there was no way that whatever it was had left because the smell was even more repugnant than he had smelled before.

The room was cast in shadow; the one working light was in the corner of the room closest to the door and didn't do a good job of illuminating the other half of the room. He carefully moved to wards a shadowed corner, half obscured by a shelf packed with boxed, expecting at any second to have a zombie jump out at him. He prepared himself best he could and walked into the shadows.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing, besides a small damp patch on the ground, the corner and in fact the entire room seemed to be completely clear. He was about to leave when he heard it again.

--_Huuuuuuuuiiiissssssss_—

The unmistakable vocal hiss of some unknown animal. Connor slowly tilted his head to look up at the source of the sound.

"ARRRGH!" Connor screamed as what he saw fell from the ceiling and did a mid-air flip to land right on top of him. Connor felt the impact of the creatures' weight and dropped to the ground. The creature was now on top of him, pinning him down. Connor struggled against it, trying to fight himself away from the creature whose features he couldn't quite put together as a whole. There were flashes of claws, teeth, saliva and moist warm flesh.

_Gottagetitoffme!_

Connor was struggling as hard as he could but whatever it was, it was far stronger than him. Connor felt something whip across his face, hard and fast it tore at his skin. It took Connor a moment to realise that it was the creatures tongue! Rough and impossibly long, Connor glimpsed the tongue curl back into the creature's fetid mouth. He couldn't comprehend the creature he was battling against, as the struggle continued Connor began to lose hope, the monster would certainly overpower him any second and make its kill. But in the instant that the creature raised its three inch thick claw Connor noticed that its head was soft and spongy, and before the creature could react he jammed the barrel of his Beretta into the side of the monstrosity's jelly-like cranium and pulled the trigger.

--_BANG!_—

Connor felt a dead weight land on top of him as the huge animal slumped on top of him. For a second Connor just lay there, unable to think, unable to move, with the dead thing lying on top of him, and it wasn't until it started to drip fluid from the large wound in its head that he came back to reality and scrambled out from underneath it.

Amy had heard the commotion from inside the storeroom. Another of those primal hissing sounds, then a thump, a muffled cry from Connor and a slightly silenced gunshot. She hadn't heard anything for a while, at least it seemed like a while, it was probably only a few seconds. She'd been too scared to go in after him when she'd first heard the commotion, and after all, Connor had told her to stay put, who was she to argue. But her fear had now subsided and become worry, not hearing anything from him after a gunshot concerned her and she wanted to be sure she wasn't alone in the world again.

Moving towards the dimness of the storeroom, Amy felt her stomach tighten. The glanced around the corner to see Connor leaning against the back wall, breathing heavily with a horrified look on his face. Lying in front of Connor was a corpse, but not human. The corpse was naked, but also skinless; it was red and wet, very muscular. Its limbs were misshapen compared to human limbs, and came to a long end with several thick, long talons. Amy tried to make sense of what she was looking at, but it only became more difficult when she noticed its head. Immediately she took in that most of its skull was missing, and its brain was actually exposed, it also didn't seem to have any eyes or a nose, just one huge mouth with long pointed teeth. The most reassuring thing she noticed was that poring from the side of its exposed brain was a veritable river of blood.

_Dead_

She looked again at Connor. He stared back at her, both of them with looks of disbelief in their eyes.

"I know this is a stupid question but are you ok?" She felt stupid for asking but it was all she could think of. It wouldn't have made much sense to ask what it was, she doubted if he, or anybody for that matter would know.

"Yeah, I think…I mean, I will be. Just need to catch my breath."

"Yeah. What happened?" She wanted to know, but at the same time she couldn't help but think that he probably wasn't up for reliving it just yet.

"The damn thing was on the ceiling! I didn't even see it. I walked right underneath and the thing just leapt on me." Connor was flustered, but regaining his composure. Amy thought it best to leave his explanation at that.

"I wonder what the hell it is. I thought the things outside were bad. At least we know it can be killed." Amy helped Connor to his feet and took another look at the creature. She shuddered at the sight of its wet corpse. The smell penetrated her sinuses and she knew they had to leave, it still wasn't safe outside, but it was preferable to staying in there with the smell.

"Let's get out of here." As Connor said it she looked at him and felt a great relief that he was thinking along the same lines as her.

"Yeah. That sounds like a good plan." She was trying to sound cheerful, though she couldn't figure out why; nothing at all about this situation was worth being cheerful about.


End file.
